Deaf But Now I Hear
by musicneverdies1702
Summary: Twilight: Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy marries girl, boy and girl have a baby. But what if that girl were deaf? Bella has been living in Forks her whole life, even since her mom split. She's deaf, has been since birth. Her friends in La Push are a little overprotective, so when the Cullen's move in, will everything blow up? Rated T for minor use of swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N~ Hey guys:) So if you read the summary, you should know what you are getting into, right? I'm kidding... Am I? So anyways, I just wanted to let you guys know, that yes, Bella is considered profoundly deaf, meaning no hearing whatsoever. BUT, her cochlear implant (implant for short) does allow her to hear, but her hearing range is shorter than a normal person's hearing and she may hear certain sounds differently than another person would hear it. I know so much about this subject because well... I'm deaf too:) I have been since birth, so all details about Bella's hearing loss will come from my own hearing loss story. If you have any questions about my personal hearing loss story, please don't hesiitate to ask. Ok, I'm done rambling, so enjoy the first chapter!:)**

 **Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT! Now, if I did, that would be awesome, but I don't. Please excuse me while I go weep in a corner...**

Chapter 1

Bzzzzzzzzzz, bzzzzzzzz. I woke up to the alarm pad under my pillow vibrating fiercely. I groaned and rolled over to hit snooze. Since regular alarms that made noise wouldn't work for me, seeing as I had to take out my implants to charge at night, Dad had gone out to get a vibrating alarm that coonnected to my clock.

Oh, right, you might not know what I'm talking about. I'm Bella Swan, I'm 17 years old, and I'm deaf. Have been since birth. I was born with a virus, but that may or may not have ruined my hearing nerves. Doctors never figured it out. Doesn't really matter to me, cuz whether it was the virus or just progressive hearing loss, I'm still deaf. I use cochlear implants that hook around my ear and a magnet and coil reach up to the piece that is inside my head (I had to go through two surgeries, not pleasant) and connects. I'm not going to go into extreme detail, because that would probably bore you.

Anyways, yeah. I've lived with Dad my whole life, Renee split when I was 2, she claimed she couldn't handle the pressure of caring for a deaf child on top of being a teen mom, so she left me with Dad. Best thing that ever happened. I know Dad still cares for Renee, but from what he tells me about her, I really think that I'm better off with Dad. I love Forks, it's my home. Of course, there are the jerks that I run into that aren't entirely accepting of the fact that I'm deaf. Jessica and Lauren are probably the worst.

But luckily for me, I have my three best friends, Kailee, Emma, and Angela. We all grew up together and are joined at the hip, some people say. So they are my Forks friends.

My dad is really close friends with Billy Black, the tribe chief down on the Quileute rez, so I have met a lot of people down there that I'm really close to. Sam is like my older brother, I met him when I was 10 and he was 13. I was kinda shy, actually still am, and a bit insecure. That was a rough time in my life and Sam was there for me. He was my rock, he swore that he'd never leave me. He's kept that promise so far.

Next is Jacob, or Jake as I call him. He's the son of Billy, and the jokester of the group. I can always count on him to cheer me up. Rachel and Rebecca, his two older twin sisters are also awesome, they are great listeners and never mind having a younger girl around.

Quil and Embry, Jake's two best friends, are also really close to me too. We met at a cookout at Jake's house and we immediately became friends. There are others too. Yes, I know, with all these boys it's a wonder I still retain some girliness. (is that even a word?) Paul, Jared, Seth, his sister Leah, Sam's girlfriend, and Collin and Brady complete our group down at the Rez.

Me, Kailee, Emma, and Leah are really close. With all the boys, how could we not be? Kailee is the one that I can talk endlessly for hours with, about anything really. She also likes reading just as much as I do which is a huge plus. Emma is the steadfast one, she can always be counted on to motivate me or just reassure me when I'm feeling down. Leah is the one I go to when I just need to talk or cry, she's really patient and a good listener. She's also Sam's girlfriend.

Bzzzzzzzzzz, bzzzzzzzzz. I was brought out of my thoughts by the incessant buzzing of my alarm. Guess it's time to get up and face the day.

I yanked off my covers, stood up, and stretched. I reached down to grab my implant batteries and the implants themselves. The peaceful quiet, (literally, because I can't hear anything) in the morning before I put my implants on is pleasant. Nothing to bother me. It's like I'm in my own little bubble.

I then go over to my closet and throw on some jeans and a long sleeved purple shirt that says "Game On." (Courtesy of Emma)

I walked downstairs, without tripping for once, then make my way to the kitchen. I found a note from Dad on the counter letting me know that he would be home late tonight. I didn't really mind, I liked having the house to myself on occasion.

I glanced at the clock and my eyes widened, if I didn't get a move on, I'd be late. I quickly ate my bowl of cereal, grabbed my backpack, and made it out the door, all in five minutes, a record for me. I realized I forgot my car keys halfway to my car and had to double back.

I finally made it to my beat up red truck, a 16th birthday present from Dad, threw my backpack in the back, and started the engine. I pulled out of the driveway and drove to pick up Kailee. She lived a couple houses down, so it didn't really make sense for us to take seperate cars so we took turns driving each other.

Kailee was waiting at the end of her driveway, reading a book, when I pulled up. She looked up from her book and smiled. She put the book in her backpack and got into the car.

"Hey Bells, did you hear? We are getting five new students today!" Kailee told me. I actually hadn't known. I guess that's what I get for not paying attention to recent gossip.

"Five?" I questioned. Not that getting a new student was odd, just the number was weird.

"Yeah, I think they're all adopted though." Well that made more sense. Five new students...this should be an interesting day.

 **A/N~ Yeah, I know it's a little slow-paced, but this background info is necessary, I promise I'll get into more of the action in the next chapter. So...thoughts? I'd like to know how I can make this better, or maybe just ideas for future chapters? Either way, please review! Oh, Kailee and Emma are based off of two friends that I have of the same name. I also grew up with them like Bella does in this story so this chapter is dedicated to them, the two best friends a girl could ask for!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N~ I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to update! I've been on vacation since Saturday and only now managed to get a wifi signal cause we are basically out in the middle of nowhere. But that's really no excuse. Anyways, just in case any of you were wondering what cochlear implants look like, I put a link to a picture of them on my profile. This is the model that I use, only mine are tan instead of black. So, yeah, here's the second chapter!;)**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight. Nada, zero, zilch. All rights go to Stephenie Meyer, unfortunately.

Chapter 2

I grabbed my backpack from the back of the truck and hopped out, closing the door as I did so while Kailee mirrored my movements on the other side of my truck. Kailee and I linked arms and started strolling towards the main entrance. I scanned the crowd there for Emma and Angela, who ride together as well.

"Oh, they're right there!" Kailee pointed towards the left side of the doors and sure enough, Emma and Angela were standing there chatting.

"Hey girls! What's up?" I called out as we drew nearer.

"Emma, what happened at soccer tryouts?" And yes, we do have sports teams despite the size of this town. Anyway, Emma is addicted to soccer and this is the first year she's been able to try out for a team.

Emma's face lit up and she started bouncing up and down, motioning for us to, and I quote, "hurry up or I will kick your ass!" Kailee and I laughed in unison and quickened our pace. Out of the four of us, Emma is the most prone to cussing. And when she makes that particular threat, she _really_ means it.

"So?" I inquired once we had reached them. Although if Emma's excitement was anything to go by, I'm pretty sure I know how tryouts went.

"I MADE THE TEAM!" Emma was bouncing up and down like a kangaroo. It happens when she gets excited, which is often.

"Yes! Didn't I tell you you would make it!" I exclaimed and we all went in for a group hug. Just then, the 5 minute warning bell rang and we broke apart.

"See ya at lunch!" I called as I strode towards building 8, where I had American History with Mr. Matthews. I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket. I pulled it out, looked down at the screen and laughed. The Rez school starts later than ours does, so Jacob would be having breakfast right about now. The text from him said, _Hey Bells, can you come down at 4? Quil and Embry won't shut up about having you back over ever since we played Monopoly last time and you beat them bad. They claim they want to reclaim their dignity, although they can't reclaim what they never had;) -Jake_. I sent a quick return text saying that, yes I can come over and Quil and Embry better watch out.

I put my phone back into my pocket and shoved open the door to my history class. I sat down in my seat next to Celia, a rather nice girl, albeit shy.

The bell rang once more, signaling the start of class. Just then, the door opened to reveal the principal of the school and a strange new kid that I've never seen walking towards the front of the class room.

This must be one of the new kids I realized. At the same time, I remembered the FM! I use it to help me hear the teachers voice better. The teacher wears a kind of mini microphone thing and I wear the counterpart. Basically, it just amplifies the teachers voice and sends it directly to my implants. Now, don't get me wrong, it helps a lot, but the counterpart is kind of bulky and obvious, so its generally the first thing that kids look at when they see me. I don't like the fact that it sets me apart, that it draws attention to me. I'm more comfortable in the shadows. I'm normally pretty good about getting it to my teachers first thing when I walk in, but the new kid distracted me.

I raced over to the table on the side of the room and unplugged both pieces and got it set up, all the while looking at the new kid making his way down the aisle. He had honey blonde hair that surrounded his face, accenting his almost unnaturally pale skin. His clothes were normal, a tshirt and jeans, nothing too unusual for high school although the clothes looked like they were a nicer quality than what most of us wear. He moved with a grace that I would certainly never be able to accomplish, klutz that I am.

I looked down at the FM and realized that my hands had finished setting it up while I was busy staring at the new kid. 8 years of practice and I guess your hands learn the motions.

I moved towards Mr. Matthews desk at the same time that the new boy turned around, giving me a perfect straight on view of his face. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. His eyes weren't blue or green, like I had been expecting, but rather a startling shade of gold. _Contacts, they're just contacts_ , I told myself, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't completely normal, and his eyes were proof of that. My eyes traveled further down his face, taking in his features that would had looked more at home on a model, not that he couldn't have been one.

I hurried forwards and placed the FM on Mr. Matthews' desk before returning to my seat, avoiding the stares.

"Now that that is taken care of," I sunk lower in my seat, sure he was talking about me, " I would like to inform you all that Mr. Jasper Hale will be joining your class. He and his four siblings have recently moved here from Alaska, so I expect that you all will treat them with the utmost of respect and courtesy." Principal Galite announced. He then strode towards the open door and slammed it shut. There was a moment of awkward silence before,

"Well this is a pleasant surprise!" Mr. Matthews exclaimed.

"Why don't you sit over there, next to Jessica." Jessica was the only one that sat by herself, but with her attitude, can you blame us for not wanting to sit next to her? Jasper gave a shrug and started towards Jessica, who simpered and immediately made room for him to sit down. She batted her eyelashes and patted the seat next to her.

I sighed. This was going to be a long class period.

 **Thoughts? Did you like it? Please review and let me know!:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! I am extremely sorry for my long absence. Hectic end of summer stuff. I will try to be better about updating but school started this week so I will be busier than normal with that. I'd like to send a shoutout to everyone who reviewed chapter 2: Emma Carstairs 01, XxMoonlitShadowxX, chaletha, a guest, .marie, and The Selected Mudblood. S o yeah! Enjoy the chapter.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight. Stephenie Meyer owns all of it. Although I would own Emmett and Quil if I could... But I can't. A girl can dream though.**

Chapter 3

I was distracted all throughout class because I kept sneaking glances at Jasper and wondering what I thought was so different about him. He seems like a perfectly normal high school student, just with golden eyes, and a model's face, and designer clothes... yeah something's off about him. I'd have to see his other siblings to get anything concrete though. The bell rang just then, shaking me out of my daze. I watched as Jasper fluidly rose from his seat and strode out into the hallway, accomplishing this with such grace that I'm not sure any human is capable of.

I shook my head and gathered up my stuff. I knew that I had trigonometry next, with Mr. Varner, so I headed towards building 6, where all the math/math related classes are. I dug around in my backpack and pulled out my old battered copy of Wuthering Heights. It may seem weird, but I'm definitely more into the classics that the new dystopian future type novels. I flipped through to page 87, where I had left off. I did this all while walking towards math, which may seem dangerous considering my inability to walk across a flat surface without tripping over my own feet, but it's like I have this radar when I'm reading, I know where everything is and it's like it's an otherworldly state, where I'm at peace.

Just as I was getting to my favorite part, my watch let out a little _beep-beep_ , letting me know that I had five minutes before I had to be in my seat in Trig before the bell rang. I flung my book into my backpack and ran towards the building 6 doors. You know, it's no wonder that my book is so beat up if I do that every time that I might be late for class.

I managed to slide into my seat just as the bell rang, not before putting the FM on Mr. Varner's desk. I normally sit alone in Math,which is fine by me, so it surprised me when a huge boy plopped down in the seat next to me. And when I say huge, I mean huge muscles, huge abs, huge everything. I studies his face, mostly his eyes, because it's the eyes that really give away a person's personality. I was shocked to find that this mystery boy's eyes were the exact same shade butterscotch as Jasper's. I thought they were adopted? But anyway, his eyes were warm, with a twinkle of mischief sparkling in them.

"Hey, I'm Emmett, I'm new here, as you can probably tell," He let out a chuckle. "What's your name?" I knew just from this sentence that I liked him already. For one thing, he looked me straight in the eye when he was talking to me, most people, when they first meet me, just stare at my implant the entire time, which is extremely unsettling.

"Hey Emmett, I'm Bella, and looks like you are stuck with me for this class, you took the last seat." I joked. If you looked around the class, kids were sitting in every available seat, the only available seat had been next to me. Wonder why? (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

Emmett let out a booming laugh that caused every kid in the room to turn and look at us. I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks and I let my hair fall across my face, acting as a kind of barrier between them and me. I had one simple rule here: _Don't draw attention to yourself_ , and Emmett had just broken it. I've found that if I'm quiet, bullies don't pay much attention to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, behind my makeshift shield, I saw Emmett stiffen. He sucked in a few deep breathes then slowly relaxed. Okay, that was odd. I don't know what happened to make him act this way.

The door slammed shut as Mr. Varner walked into the room, making us all jump. He walked up to the front of the room and put the FM on.

"Well, as you may have noticed, we have a new student here with us today." Mr. Varner said. "Emmett, please come up here and introduce yourself." We all watched as Emmett shrugged and made his way to the front of the classroom.

"Hey, I'm Emmett Cullen, I'm new to Forks, along with my brothers Jasper and Edward, and my sister Alice and my girlfriend Rosalie." I noticed that almost every girl's face fell when Emmett said that he had a girlfriend, but if Emmett noticed he didn't let on. "We moved down here from Alaska and are planning on staying here until we all graduate. So, yeah, that's pretty much it."

"Thank you Emmett, you may take your seat now." Every girl's eyes followed him as he sat down next to me. I was shocked to see that I was receiving jealous glares from some of them.

The rest of the period and the next one flew by in a blur of papers and lectures and God knows what else. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, the most dreaded part of my day. I slowly made my way towards the dining hall, hoping, no, _praying_ , that Lauren was absent. As I drew closer and closer my hopes began to rise... only to have them dashed, for Lauren Mallory and her cronies were standing in front of the dining hall doors.

"Hey Bella, where you going?" Lauren said in that nasally voice of hers. Oh boy, this wasn't going to end well.

 **I'm so sorry that it was such a long wait for such a short chapter. I'll try to make the next one 2,000+ words. So... feedback? I'd like to know how I'm doing and how to make this story better. Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys! I'm so so so sorry! School and writing have been kicking my butt lately. Let me explain about the writing part. So I tried out for a competitive writing team called Power of the Pen a few weeks ago. They have two tryout rounds, the initial round and then callbacks. I went to the** **initial round and didn't even make the callbacks! So needless to say I've been a bit depressed about that, but I'm back now! Almost a month later… yeah, I failed.**

 **So anyways… to GrimFWaters, thank you for the suggestion. i never noticed that I tend to rush the story when I get bored of writing. Ok, so I have something to confess. I have absolutely no idea as to who Bella should end up with! I had originally planned on having Bella with Edward... but now I'm not so sure. So if you review this chapter, please tell me who you think Bella should end up with. The choices are: Emmett, Edward, Alec, or Jacob. You can also suggest other characters, but those four are the ones that I feel that I can write best. Thanks! Anyways, on with the story!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight! Or New Moon or Eclipse or Breaking Dawn… I'm gonna go have a good cry now.**

"Hey Lauren!" I said enthusiastically! In an alternate world where I'm not deaf and me and Lauren are best friends. No, what _really_ happened...

"What do you want Lauren?" I said dully. Lauren has been making my life a living hell since what, 5th grade? Yeah, all because Tyler suddenly decided to start hanging out with me. We are still pretty good friends, along with Mike. I don't see them, as much anymore, I don't know why.

"Wellllllll, just thought I'd see how school is coming along, how are you adjusting to your new locker?" She asked in that little nasally annoying voice of hers. I gasped, _she_ was the one who sabotaged my locker! Looking back, I probably should have known, seeing as Lauren is the only one who ever pulls a prank of that magnitude on me.

I just recently got a locker switch so I could be closer to most of my classes so it wouldn't be such a hassle for me in the loud hallways. Seriously, we are a smaller high school than most, yet I swear the hallways sound like 3 normal size high schools combined. Or at least, that's what it sounds like to me. So Principal Galite was able to switch my locker with another student's who's was closer to the center of the school buildings, so I wouldn't have to spend prolonged amounts of time in the hallways. Luckily for me, I'm pretty much invisible here, so no one really noticed, although how Lauren did is beyond me. _And_ how she even got my locker combination, well, I'm seriously worried about that.

When I opened my locker this morning, red goop was covering everything! My binders, my textbooks, my extra implant batteries! Now, I could have dealt with the ruined binders and textbooks, but those batteries were expensive! They are backups in case my rechargeable batteries fail. God, I knew Lauren was vindictive, and out to get me, but this is going too far!

I looked up and what I saw shocked me. Her eyes, while yes, are normally filled with hate for me, now were stone cold hard, and seemed to be trying to kill me with a single glance. If looks _could_ kill, I'd be dead 10 times over by now.

"So why don't you run along now huh? Oh, and don't bother even trying to clean up that mess, it's permanent." Lauren tittered while gesturing to my implants. She waved for her cronies to follow her, as she sashayed away while I looked down and the ground, my cheeks flaming red. Yeah, unfortunately when I blush, it isn't just a red tint, its a full on tomato red cheek blush. Yay.

"Hey, everything alright Bells?" Kailee and Emma came up behind me and they each looped an arm around my own, dragging me the rest of the way into the dining hall.

"Hey, what gives?" I asked, complaining while still laughing a bit as they plopped me down at our table.

"Stay." Emma commanded like I was a disobedient dog. I chuckled and tucked a piece of hair behind my implant as Kailee and Emma went off to get our lunches.

I looked around the lunchroom, noticing all the groups. The jocks, the populars, the geeks and nerds, the wannabe cool kids, the goths. Everyone knows where they belong, except for me. Even Kailee and Emma know exactly who they are. They classify themselves as in-betweeners, a little bit geeky, a little bit popular, a little athletic. They are friends with nearly everyone, who isn't a total jerk anyways.

I looked at everyone, I _knew_ everyone. One of the perks of living in a small town. But one table caught my eye. Five kids I didn't know were sitting at a table in the far corner. Well, three. I recognized Jasper and Emmett. Along with them was a tiny girl, almost pixie-like, with short spiky dark brown hair, almost black. she had glamorous high cheekbones and her clothes… wow! She seemed a bit hyper, she was bouncing up and down in her seat so fast, she was almost a blur. I had to assume that this was Emmett's sister Alice, because the other girl was sitting next to Emmett and he had his arm wrapped around her waist. That must be Rosalie. Wow, she was even more gorgeous than what Emmett had made her sound like. Her long wavy golden blonde hair hung down to the bottom of her waist. She was so beautiful, she kinda made everyone else feel bad. I couldn't believe that any girl could have a natural figure like that. In fact, all of them were perfectly flawless. Even the last boy, who must've been Edward. His hair was a brown copper-ish color, and his face, oh God, he looked like he had just jumped off of a magazine cover. They all had the same pale skin and topaz eyes, but I thought they were adopted? If so, then was it just coincidence?

"Whatcha starin at girl?" I snapped out of my thoughts when Emma and Kailee slid in the seats across from me and Emma gave me a tray with pizza, apples, and a water bottle on it. I gestured at the table with the new kids and Emma and Kailee automatically glanced over. I grinned as their eyes grew wide as saucers and I took a bite of my pizza.

"Uh… yeah, I can definitely see why you were staring." Emma blushed. I chuckled and from then on, I made it my mission to find out as much as I could about the mysterious Culllen's

 **I'm really sorry that this isn't the 2,000 words that I promised, but I thought that this was a good place to stop, plus I might have run out of ideas… I'll be back really soon though! I promise, within the next two weeks. And if I don't update by then, y'all are free to yell at me all you want. Oh , and what do you think? For some reason, I feel like this isn't as good as previous chapters. Feedback would be awesome! And you guys are awesome too! Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N~ I know I promised to be back within two weeks, and now here we are 3 months later. I feel extremely bad about that! But life just kind of got in the way so fanfiction had to take a backseat for a while. Thank you readers, (that is if I have any left) for all your lovely comments on previous chapters. I read every one and they always make me feel better, so thank you for that as well you guys! Just one more thing before I get to the actual story. PLEASE READ: So I think that in the last chapter I mentioned that I needed all of your guys' input as to who Bella should end up with, and the 4 that I feel that I could write best are: Emmett, Edward, Alec, and Jacob, but you can definitely recommend other characters. So far, there's 2 votes for Edward, one for Alec, and none for the rest. On to the story!**

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DBNIH Chapter 5

Fuck Lauren Mallory. Now, I generally don't curse, but I'll make an exception for that bitch. I am normally very good about charging my batteries at night, but last night, I was up late reading a book and forgot to charge my batteries, so of course my left one had to go out just now. And thanks to Lauren, I can't use my other backups due to whatever shit she put in my locker. Just great. I swear, it seems like fate has it out for me sometimes. Why else would my own mother have abandoned me?

"Bells? You okay?" I was snapped out of my inner monologue by a tan hand waving in front of my face.

"What? Oh, er, sorry Ange," I said sheepishly. "Got caught up in my thoughts."

"That's quite alright. But if you don't get a move on, you are going to be late for Bio, and make me late for Spanish too." Wait what? I glanced down at my watch and sure enough, I only had three minutes before the bell rang for 6th period.

"You can go ahead and get to Spanish, Angela." I yelled over my shoulder as I jogged down the hallway towards the Bio classroom, with the FM bouncing crazily on my chest. One of the worst things ever, it's not exactly light and it's not invisible either, so of course I got some stares from the other stragglers.

 _468... 469... 470..._ yes! I quickly turned the doorknob and rushed into the classroom, my head down. I gave the FM to and slid into my seat just as the bell rang, not before tripping on a backpack...twice. _A new record_ , I thought wryly. I adjusted my seat and turned to face the front just as the bell chimed for the last time. I couldn't help but notice that the bell sounded more muted than it normally did. In fact, everything sounded off. Lauren. I'd almost forgotten what she did, but nope. Apparently my own mind couldn't save me from even that. I'd have to go through the rest of the day with half my hearing. Admittedly, I hear better with my right, but that's not the point. At least there's only this class and Gym left.

I could see the door slowly opening out of the corner of my eye, so I looked up out of curiosity. Principal Galite walked in once again, followed by the bronze haired Cullen I had seen at lunch, the one I suspected to be Edward based off of what I had heard from Emmett earlier. What was it with me and having Cullens in nearly every class?

My suspicions were confirmed when Principal Galite opened his mouth to introduce Edward and gave us the same spiel I'd heard twice before with Jasper and Emmett. Just like in Trig, the only open spot was next to me, the social outcast. I'm honestly surprised I even have friends. I tried to subtly look at him as he made his way down the aisle, smoothly navigating the maze of backpacks. Judging from the quirk in the corner of his mouth, he'd caught one of my furtive glances at him. Subtlety had never been my strong suit.

I looked over at him as he gracefully sat down on my left.

"Hi Edward, I'm Bella." I introduced myself. I thought that he might be a little nervous, I would be too. Also, sitting next to the deaf girl doesn't help on your first day.

"Hello Be-" Edward was cut off when the fan blew my loose hair in his direction and he suddenly went rigid in his seat.

"Um, are you alright Edward?" Every muscle in his body was taut, I noticed veins sticking out of his hand that was clenched on the table top. He gave a short jerk of his head and I could see the obvious tension in every movement he made. He continued to stare straight ahead, not moving a muscle.

I didn't know what was wrong, he had seemed perfectly fine until the fan... the fan! Did I smell awful? I tried to covertly smell my shirt. Nope, smelled like my deodorant, and my hair smelled like the strawberry scented shampoo I had used this morning. Then what was his problem?

"Ok people, eyes up here please! So today, we are going to be taking a look at the different phases of mitosis. I will give each table a sample of 5 onion root cells,each sample is in a different phase of mitosis. Your challenge is to correctly identify all 5 phases using the microscope I have provided before the period is over. Begin!"

I looked over at Edward, who was still in that seemingly frozen state.

"Um," That little noise snapped him out of it, but he was still tense.

"Ladies first?' He suggested through his teeth. I had literally just met the guy five minutes ago and he's acting like I tried to stab him or something. Not that I ever could due to my incredibly clumsy state. Plus he'd probably hear me a mile away. I have no true concept of how loud or quiet I am being because I hear differently than everyone else. Back to the lab.

I grabbed a slide at random from the bag of samples, and fumbled with it trying to get it in place. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the corner of Edward's mouth turn up at the corner, probably laughing at my clumsiness.

I finally managed to secure the slide under the lens of the microscope and took a quick look.

"It's metaphase." I told Edward, while I flipped the slide over to see the number written on the back.

"Number 4." I informed him. There was a brief period of silence when I dug through my backpack for my pencil when Edward broke the silence.

"Do you mind if I double check?" He asked, his fingers hovering near the microscope, still tense as always. It stung for a second that he doubted my assessment. It seems like when I meet new people, they automatically assume that I'm dumb and stupid, just because I'm deaf. I know that that probably wasn't how he felt, but its happened too many times for me to feel any other way.

"Sure." It was my turn to speak through my teeth. I honestly don't know why I act this way, I know that Edward didn't mean it that way. _Knock it off Bella_ , I told myself.

"Metaphase." Edward said, agreeing with me. I couldn't resist smirking at him before writing down the final answer on the lab paper.

The rest of class passed fairly quickly, and Edward retained his tense position right up until the second the bell rang, when he gracefully uncoiled from his seat and briskly strode towards the door, very nearly breaking into jog in his haste to leave. I was very confused, what had I done to make him so appalled? I've known him all of 50 minutes, what could possibly have happened for him to hate me so much?

I left Biology with more questions than answers about the Cullens.

* * *

I weaved my way through the people in the hallways, voices bombarding me from every direction. I just had to stop by my locker to drop off my binders and grab my gym clothes. Luckily I had taken most of my binders home with me last night, so they were spared Lauren's wrath. And my gym clothes I bring back and forth so luckily I had clean clothes.

I made my way to my new locker, only to find that it was already open. I already had a hunch that Lauren had something to do with this. With growing trepidation, I opened my locker the rest of the way, only to see post-it notes covering every single inch of my locker, and every single one had a nasty, derisive comment written on it.

I felt my anger bubble up and I tore down as many of the post-it notes as I could without looking at them. However, despite my efforts, a few caught my eye.

 _Retard_

 _Bitch_

 _You don't belong here_

That last one felt like a slap in the face, mostly because I knew that it was true. Out of Forks High's 300 students, I was the only one who had any form of disability. I was a freak, an anomaly.

I felt my eyes start to water, so I grabbed my gym bag and slammed the locker door shut. I clutched my gym bag to my chest and kept my head down so no one could see the tears starting to make their way down my cheeks. I walked as fast as I physically could, wanting to get out of these hallways and to some relative privacy.

I finally had reached the gym and my fingers slipped trying to get ahold of the locker room doorknob in my haste to get inside. Finally the door opened and I rushed inside.

I flung my backpack and gym bag on the bench and ran for the restroom, ignoring Emma, Kailee, and Angela's bewildered looks.

I found an available stall and bolted inside, sliding the latch. I sank down to the floor, sobbing into my hand.

 _Retard_

 _Bitch_

 _You don't belong here_

 _Who do you think you are_

 _Idiot_

 _You will never be normal_

The phrases from the notes whirled about inside my head, making me cry harder. Maybe Lauren was right. What was I thinking, fooling myself into believing that I was accepted here. That I was normal. That I could have a normal life. Yeah, right.

"Bella? Bella! We know you're in here!" I could hear the frantic pounding on the stall door, but I chose to ignore it. I could also hear my friends voices shouting for me to come out. I very nearly did when I hear Angela start crying herself.

"Please Bells." I heard Emma whisper. That did it. I needed my friends, and I wasn't helping anyone by locking myself in here. I reached my hand up and felt for the latch. I slowly pushed the slider to the right, not having the energy to actually get up and come out.

The stall door swung open and Emma, Kailee, and Angela all crowded in.

"Bella, what's wrong?' Kailee asked. By now, my sobs had subsided a bit and I wiped my eyes before looking up at my friends. the looks of concern etched on each of their faces very nearly broke me again. For a moment, the only sound that could be heard in the locker was the sound of my sniffles. I unclenched my hand, where one of Lauren's notes had stuck. Kailee reached down and took it. She smoothed it out and read it.

"Oh, Bells." She whispered, passing it to Emma, then to Angela. After reading the note, they all had identical looks on their faces. They all looked angry, presumably at Lauren, but also concern for me.

"Bella, who was this? Who did this? I'll kick their ass. I don't care who." Emma growled. I couldn't help but laugh through my silent tears. That sounded so much like Emma. She was fiercely loyal and I had no doubt that she was fully capable of taking down anyone.

"Don't tell me, it was Lauren, right?" Kailee asked. I slowly nodded.

"Well don't believe a word she says, we all know that she's full of bullshit." Angela proclaimed. I snorted, easier said than done.

"I'm serious Bella, don't believe anything that she wrote on these notes, they're not true. We are your friends, we've known you since 1st grade, I think that we can say with pretty damn good authority that you, Isabella Marie Swan, are the kindest, most selfless, most amazing person I will ever meet,, so don't ever doubt that." I was tearing up by the end of Emma's speech and Kailee and Angela were both vehemently nodding along.

All three of them crowded around me for a group hug, and I wondered, what had I ever done to deserve such wonderful friends.

* * *

A/N~ So that's that. What did you guys think? 2,000+ words, does this make up for my three month long absence? It probably doesn't but again, I'm really sorry. Oh, and please get your votes in! Info on that can be found on the A/N at the beginning. Until next time! Which will hopefully be anytime before December 31st.


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